Royce & Associates LP Grows Stock Holdings in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M)

Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,445,000 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Macy’s were worth $24,464,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in M. Barington Capital Group L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Macy’s by 550.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barington Capital Group L.P. now owns 650,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,198,000 after purchasing an additional 550,000 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Macy’s by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,314,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,116,000 after purchasing an additional 419,261 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Macy’s by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 3,512,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,461,000 after purchasing an additional 411,412 shares during the period. Lind Value II ApS acquired a new position in shares of Macy’s in the 4th quarter valued at $6,733,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in shares of Macy’s by 57.9% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 782,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,276,000 after purchasing an additional 286,879 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Macy’s Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of M opened at $13.09 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Macy’s, Inc. has a 12-month low of $12.60 and a 12-month high of $22.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $14.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.18 and a beta of 2.07.

Macy’s (NYSE:M) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $7.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.76 billion. Macy’s had a net margin of 0.73% and a return on equity of 21.99%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Macy’s, Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Macy’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.1824 per share. This represents a $0.73 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Macy’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Macy’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Macy’s from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $19.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Gordon Haskett cut shares of Macy’s from an “accumulate” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Macy’s in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Macy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Macy’s in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Macy’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.56.

Macy’s Company Profile

Macy’s, Inc engages in the retail of apparel, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, and other consumer goods. The firm’s brands include Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, and Bluemercury. It offers men’s, women’s, and children’s apparel, women’s accessories, intimate apparel, shoes, cosmetics, fragrances, as well as home and miscellaneous products.